KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko blamed Russia for bad relations between the two countries and said Moscow and Kiev should improve them.

In an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station, Yushchenko said Russian-Ukrainian "relations need to be reset, like relations between Moscow and Washington," the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Friday.

Yushchenko said the two countries, since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, missed many chances to improve bilateral relations, as in his opinion Russia "failed to play" a proper role toward independent and Ukraine, the agency said.

Yushchenko said it is time to improve all sorts of ties between Russia and Ukraine as it would be absurd the neighboring countries have "bad relations."

He said Russia should rest assured that Ukraine will make no move to damage relations with Moscow, the report said.